The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing pasta filata cheese varieties and/or mozzarella-like products.
In the manufacture of pasta filata cheeses like Mozzarella, curd solids are typically heated in a hot water bath. When the individual curd particles begin to flow together the mass is subsequentially pulled apart and folded back over to develop characteristic fibrous internal texture and smooth outer surfaces.
Spent hot water containing cheese solids, salt and energy is a major economic concern when considering commercial mozzarella cheese manufacture. Such losses represent lost manufacturing opportunity as well as high BOD, salinity, and thermal environmental pollution. Commercial mozzarella cheese facilities typically lose 5% curd fat during this unique pasta filata manufacturing step. Only a portion of that fat loss is recoverable as whey cream. Approximately 0.045 gallon spent mixer water volume is developed per pound finished mozzarella cheese. A commercial mozzarella cheese manufacturer could expect to pay for disposal of 4,500 gallons mixer water with over 1,100 pounds dry solids (including 900 pounds sodium chloride) per 100,000 pounds finished cheese per day.
Elimination or at least reduction in quantity of such spent hot water would be beneficial in terms of production cost (improved vat milk to finished cheese solids retention) as well as harm to the natural environment.
Cheese compositional and functional variations continue to be a major concern for both cheese manufacturers and users of the cheese. Controlling viable microbial count, fat content, moisture, salt content, acidity and refrigerated shelf stability improves cheese consistency. The pizza industry, as well as other users of cheese, continues to expect mozzarella cheese varieties and/or mozzarella-like styles of cheese that can be used over a broader range of applications. A greater variety of pizzas, changes in oven styles, cooking conditions and the like continue to be developed so as to maintain and/or increase the pizza maker's market-share. However, such changes affect the performance of the cheese. For example, the portioning of the cheese and/or amount of heat available during the cooking process to melt the cheese may be affected. By portioning is meant the ease of dividing into portions the cheese once it is melted. Portioning in turn relies on the cut integrity and firmness of the cheese when in the molten state. Changes in the amount of heat available for cooking result in differences in overall melt performance and flavor of the mozzarella cheese on the finished, baked pizza. Despite all the changes, it is still desired by the pizza industry that the portioning of the cheese improve, or at least not suffer, while the melt and flavor characteristics of the cheese remain the same.
Added to this, any changes that a cheese manufacturer may make in an attempt to achieve a more consistent functional product for a specific application may impact the handling and portioning of the cheese, such as when cutting a pizza. Thus a product which performs and meets the melt and flavor characteristics, yet does not handle/portion satisfactorily, is not acceptable. As regards portioning, in an attempt to control food costs, greater accuracy as to the free flowing, cut integrity of the product is required. Diced, sliced or shredded cheese that sticks to the cutting surface is difficult to handle. Such cheese requires more equipment cleanup and results in reduction in amount of usable cheese per purchased unit.
Upon baking the pizza, cheese is supposed to melt such that it loses its original shape and exhibits controlled "stringy" characteristics. However, such characteristics may vary from batch to batch. Cheeses made under conventional processes may melt too much or too little.
Process cheeses (non-pasta filata cheese) have more consistency from batch to batch, however, process cheese lacks the desired "stringy" characteristics. Even when process cheese is formulated to improve its melt characteristics, process cheese typically does not release sufficient milk fat when melted in a pizza environment and a tough burnt cheese layer results. Prior to this invention, manufacturers of mozzarella-like products have been limited in their control of performance characteristics of mozzarella cheese for use in a broad range of applications. The end user, especially the maker of pizza's, has had to accept cheese that may not be consistently uniform from vat to vat as well as at different times of the year.
The application of mozzarella cheese varieties and mozzarella-like products continue to grow and expand within the pizza industry, as well as its use in the food service/institutional industries. One reason for the continued growth is that the performance characteristics of mozzarella cheese even with its short comings have made it preferable over other varieties when used as an ingredient in some complex foods such as pizza.
One of mozzarella cheeses' most important attributes is its melting characteristics when baked as compared to other cheeses. These characteristics include melt down (time to melt), stretch, blistering/browning, and flavor. In general, melting is a function of the amount, rate, and/or source of heat over a specified time that is being transferred to the cheese during baking. Similar melt characteristics should be expected when keeping the amount and/or source of heat and the baking time constant for any application of mozzarella cheese. However, the natural variation in composition and seasonality of mozzarella cheese in terms of melt characteristics can differ substantially from one manufacturing vat to the next. It is even possible to have variations within a vat because of ongoing acid and protein changes during fermentation by viable microbial starters. Further variations to the mozzarella cheese are introduced by cooking conditions. For example, the style of pizza being prepared may vary the melt characteristics. Varying amounts of ingredients, thickness of crust and types of ingredients all enter into changing the melting environment of the mozzarella cheese. Additionally, the type of oven used and the time of baking also has a significant impact on the amount and the source of heat available for melting the mozzarella cheese.